Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Son shooting high....need suggestions

I have my 5 year old twin boys shooting a lot of BBs lately and one thing I have noticed is that one of them consistently is shooting high. I have made sure he is aligning the iron sights appropriately (as much as I can), I have had him get really close (like 5 feet), I have asked him to bring the front sight down, and I have tried just letting him get trigger time and shoot his way out of it. Still shooting high. Any suggestions guys?

Yes, I tested the gun, it is on (well as on as a Red Ryder is gonna be....it doesnt shoot high).

Sounds to me like he is looking over the sights when he shoots to see where he hit. Follow through and keep his eye on the front sight.

One thing I should mention, is that he shoot pretty darn good groups for a 5 year old. Not perfect....but he is 5.

I havent witnessed him pulling up early, but I will watch closer the next time we shoot.

I have used a combination of Shoot NC targets and regular paper targets.

I'm not a gunwriter, but if you're sure the site picture is correct maybe it's some form of target panic? I struggled with it as an archer for awhile, but never had that issue with firearms.

He may be left eye dominant.
Can he draw you a picture of what he sees when looking at the target and front sight thru the rear sight???

My WAG is also that he may be left eye dominant. Most folks who are weak side eye dominant will shoot high when trying to shoot a long gun from the strong side. Shots will also usually tend to drift to the strong side as well.

Have him put both hands together with a small bit of space between them, forming an aperture, and look at you through the hole. You will see his dominant eye as he looks at your face.

If he is right-handed but left-eyed, try having him shoot from the left shoulder, or put a patch of some sort over his left eye.

Another method is to hold your own index finger under your own dominant eye and tell him to "Point directly at my finger". You will be looking at his dominant eye, if he has one (which is a whole 'nother can of worms) and doesn't have "mixed domninance" which requires some "therapy".

When you have to check eye dominance on 40 troops and separate the problem children this is how you do it.

thought of this and had him shoot left handed. Same problem. At this point, his eyes are probably pretty close as he will do the test and favor either eye depending on the test. most often, he is right eye dominant.

Aim low.


P

There are two possibilities.

(1) Wrong sight picture.

(2) He's "pushing" the shot.

I'd suggest getting him down on a rest pushing the gun firmly into the bags, then have him shoot. That should eliminate "pushing" the shot. If he's still shooting high, it's probably a sight picture issue.

I don't have a dominant eye, I switch eyes to match whichever hand I shoot with. Drives my eye doc batty, he swore that wasn't possible. He ate crow. Anyway, the choice of which eye I use does not affect point of impact for me. I don't think cross eye dominance is part of the picture. Might be wrong of course, we're all a little different.

Tom

Bman...my son was shooting high when he started out also... print (or just bring up on screen) a sight picture such as this

http://pistol-training.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/sightimages.jpg

and discuss what he sees. If you are on the same page then move to the next issue..

Best way to test eye dominance, especially in kids, is hand them an empty cardboard roll from paper towels etc. and ask them to look thru it. People will always hold it up to their dominant eye.

Before cameras had little screens on the back, you could hand them a camera and ask them to take a picture and see which eye they used thru the viewfinder. People naturally use their dominant eye.

Not so, not always for all people.

If I hold the tube in my right hand, it'll line up on the right, if I hold the tube in my left hand, it'll line up on the left. Every stinkin' time, time after time. The only thing your test does is tell me which hand the tube is in.

Tom

CT nailed it. He's looking at his target. You're gonna have a tough time with the "eye is like a camera" speech and getting him to focus on the front sight when he's five.

I'd let him have fun with it, and get him peeps on his 22LR. Cures a lot of problems without a lot of profanity on dad's part.


Travis

Tom - You and i are in the same boat. Shoot pistol right handed, but rifle left handed. It is what it is.

OP, I hope you've found good advice here. To me it's: 1) Having fun, and 2) Learning correctly w/o creating a stressful situation for the child. Our local archery club used to do a kid's day with the local Parks and Rec. The biggest problem was keeping the parents under control!

Good luck, have fun!

Bob

Bob

The kid is only 5 years old. Quit worrying about it and let him have fun.

This. He's 5...

Again! I was getting frustrated with my son and his shooting. I just couldn't figure out how he couldn't do it. Once I calmed down and just made sure he was having fun he wanted to shoot more. And now he shoots better! I've tried talking sight picture with him, but he doesn't really get it. Though with a red dot, which I think are great for kids, it's easy, put the dot where you want the pellet to go.

In my limited time as a firearms instructor the above was almost always the reason people shot low.

I realize he is only five years old, but what better time to begin instilling the proper basics? Teach him to follow through and never lose focus on the front sight - even after he knows the BB has hit the target.

Our Future and it looks great.Congrats on bringing him up right!!!!